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KU has a good reason to welcome hot spell

The new solar power plant installed on the campus generates 20 KW energy

The mini solar power plant installed on the roof of administrative building of Kakatiya University in Warangal.– Photo: M. Murali

With a view to save the precious public fund and to tap the natural resource, the Kakatiya University authorities took a bold decision and installed mini solar power plant in the campus.

The authorities spent Rs. 40 lakh and installed a plant on the roof of the administrative building. It has been generating 20 KW energy lighting up the whole of the building- 150 fans, 150 tube lights, 50 air coolers, air conditioning and photo copying machines of the building. “We will be saving Rs. 30,000 per month with the new initiative,” said KU Vice-Chancellor Prof. B Venkataratnam speaking to
The Hindu
.

The employees working in the administration building feel greatly relieved as there has been no power cut since the last two months after the installation of the plant.

The authorities said that there were 30 academic departments and 10 administrative offices on the campus. The electricity bill of the university comes to over Rs. 1 crore per year with an average of Rs. 8 to Rs. 10 lakh per month.

They were now confident of saving a bit in the electricity bill as the solar plant does not entail any recurring expenditure. Going by the experience and maintenance of the plant, the authorities plan to install more such plants all over the campus in a phased manner.

KU college principal Prof. N. Ramaswamy, appreciating the initiative of the Vice-Chancellor, said that it was good to use natural resource to fulfil ever-increasing human demand. The solar plant helps conserve nature and avoids pollution.

“It saves money which is like blood for a public institution. The saved amount can be used for academic purposes,” he said.

Vice principal K. Damodar Rao said that they would review the functioning of the solar plant and studying its efficacy, some more would be installed on the buildings where the power consumption was more like hostels, principal office and examination branch.

“We will be saving Rs. 30,000 per month with this new initiative,” says KU Vice-Chancellor

The employees feel relieved as there have been no power cuts since the installation of the plant